


Parent Swap

by soufflegirl123



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family Feels, Gen, Hurt Captain Hook | Killian Jones
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-07-16 14:08:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7271404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soufflegirl123/pseuds/soufflegirl123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shortly after Neverland, a spell backfires once more. What's new? Except for this time, the spell has everyone thinking that Killian Jones is actually Prince Killian, the son of Prince Charming and Snow White and Emma is a notorious bounty hunter who's making moves on everyone's beloved savior prince.<br/>Killian and Emma have to work together to return things to normal while enduring the awkwardness that their new situation causes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A spell gone wrong

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not the biggest CS shipper (sorry, guys, I know it's popular. It's just not my cup of tea). However, this idea just wouldn't leave alone, and so I'm giving it my best shot.

Another attempt to save the day, and something magical had gone wrong. Nothing unusual there. Not in Storybrooke anyway. Emma slowly pulled herself up into a seated position and managed to lean against a nearby tree until she could get her head to stop spinning. 

A few feet away, Killian lay sprawled on the dirt. His whole body ached. That was becoming far too familiar for his liking. With a groan, he started to sit up, but before he could, two sets of hands were on him. 

“Easy. Careful now.” David quickly lifted Killian to sit up before he could actually exert any energy himself. Then with minimal effort he adjusted his hold on Killian to allow him to use David’s chest as a backrest. Shocked but too sore and confused to comment on the strange behavior, Killian allowed himself to be maneuvered around. Mary Margaret was acting just as strange. She was brushing Killian’s hair away from his eyes to search for any head injuries. Occasionally she would pick out a piece of dirt and flick it to the side. 

“Are you okay, Killian?” she asked. 

“I'm fine, your majesty,” he quickly assured already moving to pull away. “How’s Swan?” 

A strange look flickered in Mary Margaret’s eyes before she turned and glanced at the blonde. “She’s fine.” 

Emma, who had managed to pull herself to a standing position, watched their interactions with as much confusion as Killian. She knew that they had started to tolerate the pirate, but it was unlike them to fawn over him the way they were, especially when she herself was injured. She knew how that sounded, but it was true. Her parents were overprotective. Everyone knew it. 

Killian was already trying to stand as well. However, David was still insisting on bearing most of his weight and refused to let go of the other man’s arms for even a moment. Feeling extremely strange by that point, Killian tried to pull away again. 

“Don’t be stubborn, Killian. Let your father help you until you’re steady again.” 

That made him freeze. “Father?” he muttered while locking eyes with Emma. 

“Father?” Emma echoed then louder she spoke again. “Mom, what are you talking about?” 

Mary Margaret’s face scrunched up as she turned to face Emma. “Why are you calling me ‘mom’?” 

“Because you are her mother,” Killian supplied. “And Prince Charming here’s her father.” Mary Margaret looked from Killian to Emma and back again. 

“The spell must have done something to them,” she stated after a moment. “We’ll have to ask Regina for help.”

“The spell did nothing to us. It’s the two of you that are behaving weirdly,” Emma replied. 

“Swan, don’t be difficult about this. We’ll just convince Regina to help us.” David interrupted

David was already steering a surprisingly pliant Killian to the truck. “Hon?” he called over to Mary Margaret. She sighed. 

“You take Killian. I’ll drive Miss Swan in her car over. The reversal might require both of them after all.” 

She gave Emma a look as if she were expecting her to be difficult about the situation. Emma held up her hands. “I’m coming. I’m coming. I want this spell taken care of as much as you do.” 

Once they got to Regina, they would at least have a third party to prove to her parents that it was them who had been affected by the spell and not Killian or herself, so she climbed into her car and got ready for one of the most awkward car rides with her mom she had ever had. 

Meanwhile, in David’s truck, Killian kept fidgeting around under the many concerned glances the prince kept sending his way. “Maybe we should go see Doctor Whale first. Are you sure you’re okay?” 

“I’m fine,” Killian insisted again for what felt like the hundredth time. 

David sighed. “Listen, Killian, I thought we had discussed this. We want you to be open with us. We missed out on so much already, and I know we can be a little overprotective sometimes. We just want to make sure you’re happy and safe, and I know you’re still upset about what we said about Swan.” 

“Wha..”

David held up one hand. “However, your mom and I are just not comfortable with the idea of the two of you together yet.

Out of curiosity, Killian decided to play along. “Why’s that again?”

“Well, she’s a bounty hunter, first of all. Secondly, she’s not proved herself to be fully trustworthy yet. Finally, everything seems to go wrong when she’s around. Look at how many times you’ve been knocked unconscious in the past month alone.”

“I see,” Killian replied, realizing how Emma had probably heard a very similar argument right before the spell backfired on them. He wondered if it had changed anything about the way she felt about him. 

“Look, son, it’s your decision who you want to be involved with. As long as you’re happy, we’ll support you. You just have to realize that we’re not going to be comfortable until we’re certain that every thing’s safe. It’s our job as parents.”

Killian chuckled under his breath. If this was what Emma endured daily, it was a wonder she hadn’t been driven mad yet. He did have to admit though that it seemed kind of nice to have people to love you that much. 

They pulled up to Regina’s house a few moments later, and David hurried to hop out of the truck. He hovered anxiously as Killian climbed out of the vehicle and didn’t stop hovering as they made their way to the house’s entrance. To be fair though, Killian was still limping rather noticeably. His back and right leg were sore. He would probably have bruises covering him come morning. 

Mary Margaret and Emma were only moments behind them. Emma was moving a bit stiffly as well, and despite her uncertainty towards the blonde, Mary Margaret had offered her an arm to lean on as they walked. 

Regina answered the door with a frown. “It’s you four again. What have you done now?”

Before David could speak, Henry rushed out the door. “Hey, Dad!” he exclaimed while launching himself at Killian. Killian turned wide eyes to Emma. 

“Swan, I think that spell caused a bigger problem than we thought.”


	2. Regina

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Charmings seek out Regina's help

Regina glanced down at Henry. “Right, you should come inside.” So much for her plans for a quiet day with Henry. 

Once everyone was inside and seated, she looked them over. “What exactly can I fix today?” She asked, jumping straight to the point. The faster she fixed whatever they had messed up, the faster she could get them out of her house. 

David took over from there. “One of the spells hit Killian and Swan, and now they think she’s our daughter and he’s not our son.”

Henry, who had been listening in the same as always, suddenly interrupted. “Wait, does that mean Miss Swan thinks she’s my mom?” 

“Of course, I’m your mom!” Emma exclaimed. 

Henry gave her a look that was borderline pitying, and despite whatever amends had been made between the two of them, Regina felt a little glee stirring at the disappointed expression Emma was sporting right then. 

“Okay, I see what’s going on here. Why don’t you two take Henry out for lunch, and I’ll see how quickly I can fix this,” Regina suggested to David and Mary Margaret. Both immediately looked to Killian, who rolled his eyes at their matching concern. Emma had to admit that while they were in a bad situation, the one good thing was being able to watch Killian be the one to deal with her parents’ over-protectiveness. 

“I’m not sure…” David started. Much to Killian’s horror and Emma’s now definite amusement, he had taken the seat right next to the man he currently considered to be his son and didn’t seem to be planning to leave his side anytime soon. 

“Can we trust you not to make things worse?” Mary Margaret interrupted. She was on Killian’s other side, and Killian was not so subtlety looking for an escape route while casting glares in Emma’s direction. Apparently she was not doing so well at hiding her feelings right then. 

Regina gave a dismissive wave. “Yes, yes. I would never do anything to jeopardize Henry’s happiness. You should know this by now. I just need some space to work.” 

Regina hated to give up her precious time with Henry, but in this case, the situation was turning out better than usual. She waited for David and Mary Margaret to leave with Henry, making sure to get his promise that the two of them would change their own lunch plans, before addressing Killian and Emma again.

“You have to believe us, Regina, you all are the ones affected by this spell. We’re the ones who are remembering things correctly,” Emma blurted out. 

Regina chuckled. “Oh, I do believe you. See, I can see the story they see, and I can remember the truth as well. The problem is that those three can only see the spell’s version of the story. What spell were you using anyway?” 

Emma winced. “I…I can’t remember actually. It’s like there is a gap.” She looked to Killian. 

“Sorry, love. I can’t remember anything that after between breakfast this morning and our getting blasted by some force.” 

Regina raised one perfectly tweezed eyebrow. “ Neither of you can remember what was happening? Lovely. I should have known. I really have no other option than to help. As amusing as this all is, I’d rather not have Henry thinking Killian is his father.” 

“Wait, if he thinks Killian is his father then who does he think is his other mother?” Emma asked. 

“He still remembers Baelfire as his father.”

“But…how?”

Regina shrugged. “Magic. It works in interesting ways. I’ll spare you the details on that one.”

“Can you fix this?”

“I’ll see what I can do. As distasteful as it is, I need to check with Gold. In the meantime, you two should go out and see how many people are under this spell. That can help us narrow it down slightly.” 

“And what if everyone else is under the spell’s influence? What do we do?”

Looking far too satisfied, Regina smiled. “Play along, of course. No need to have everyone panicking that magic has once again backfired on them.” 

“Play along?”

“Exactly. You’re going to play along because the last thing this town needs is to have everyone panicking about another spell.”

Neither could argue with her. They had just handled the last curse of the week, and everyone was still exhausted. With the announcement that memories were once again missing and being altered, the residents were go from calm to chaos in no time at all. The best way to handle the situation was to keep it quiet until they determined whether it was a real emergency or a small problem that could be easily fixed.

Also Regina could not deny that she was enjoying the turn of events. Watching Killian grow pale as he realized he was having to play son to the Charmings and Emma grimace at the thought of having to act nothing more than an acquaintance to Henry was more than amusing. 

“If we’re playing along then we’ll need to know what’s changed,” Emma finally agreed.

Regina explained the main differences to them. She told them how the spell had altered the Charmings’ memories to believe they had had a son rather than a daughter. They believed Emma had been born in the Enchanted forest to another family and supposedly had a similar childhood to Killian’s actual childhood with a father that had traded her off shortly after the death of her mother. Only rather than becoming a pirate she, like Baelfire, had traveled through portals until she landed in their current nonmagical world. From there, her spelled past remained nearly identical to her actual past. She had grown up in fosters homes and everything remained the same up until how she had gotten to Storybrooke. Instead of Henry retrieving her, Baelfire had been the one to convince her to return with him after getting word from August that something was happening in Storybrooke.

As for their memories of Killian, they believed he had been born the prince. He had been the one sent through the portal. Only, that’s where his story differed. Rather than landing in the woods with August, who was supposed to be his protector, he had been transported through time. He had still had his brother Liam. Rather than a blood brother, Liam had been his sworn brother. Otherwise everything remained the same. He had been sold off. He had joined the Navy. He had avenged Liam’s death by becoming a pirate. All of it was the same up until he met Baelfire for the first time. That was when things in the spell became a little more twisted. Since Killian had never appeared in the portal with August, the then small child had gone on a journey to try to find the prince. He had found Killian after Baelfire left, and he had convinced him to go to the nonmagical world where he had magically met up with an older Baelfire once more and came to more than just a reconciliation, and then Henry appeared. After that, Henry had found Killian the same way he had found Emma. 

It was all twisted. There were some gaping holes which was how Regina explained she able to see which was the truth and which was the spell. However, the spell seemed to be hiding those holes from everyone else that was affected.

“That’s…,” Emma started then stopped. There were no words. How had everything ended up so twisted and yet similar? 

After a few moments, Killian ran his hand down his face. “I think this might be the worst curse yet, Swan.” he sighed. 

Emma, however, was starting to relax. “I don’t know. I mean, it’s horrible that Henry doesn’t remember that I’m his mom, and I was starting to enjoy spending time with my parents. But at least no one’s in danger of dying or having their hearts ripped out. Overall, this is kind of ranking low on the threat scale.” 

“If you say so,” Killian muttered, feeling that his end of the deal was much worse than the savior’s, especially since he was currently having to play the role of the savior. Then again, if it was making Emma’s life a little easier, he guessed he could deal with it for the time being. 

“That doesn’t mean we can just let this go, however. You two need to go out and see how many people were impacted by this spell. I’ll check my own resources. And remember,…”

Already following Emma out of the door, Killian paused for only a moment. “Aye, we know. Play along.”


	3. Nosy Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a short piece of Killian and Emma realizing their situation. Sorry, not a full chapter, but I am going to continue this story and do it well once I get moved into my new place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is not actually a full chapter. It's just what I had before life got busy, and I wanted to at least post a little something before I'm consumed with all the joys of moving to a new place.

The whole town. All of Storybrooke. The spell had changed the memories of everyone except for Killian, Emma, Regina, and apparently Gold. Emma and Killian had spent the next few hours chatting with various residents while trying to subtlety figure out whether they remembered the truth or believed the spell’s false memories. All the conversations had resulted in the same conclusion: the residents of Storybrooke believed that Killian was their savior. 

“More rum?” Killian asked. Emma nodded absently from her seat across from him and slid her glass towards him for a refill. 

“How about some food to go along with all those drinks?” Ruby suggested as she stopped by their table. 

“Fries,” Emma replied.

“Pie,” Killian added. 

“Sure thing.” Ruby gave them a wide grin. “So…uh, is there a reason that you two are calling a drinking session in the middle of the afternoon?” Both kept their gazes pointedly on their glasses. “It’s not about that spell is it?” 

Killian started. “You know about the spell, Red?”

“Of course. Snow gave me a heads up. She said you two had been hit by a spell and were probably going to be a little confused for awhile. She asked me to keep an eye on things.”

Emma’s shoulders slumped, and Killian groaned. So much for hoping they had one more ally. Ruby misread their reactions and just chuckled. “Don’t be like that, Killi. She’s your mom. She gets to be concerned.” She squeezed his shoulder warmly and gave short but friendly nod to Emma. “I’ll be right back with some food for you two. Pace out those drinks in the meantime. Don’t want to have to haul you upstairs again if you pass out.” 

“Oh great, she has a memory of dragging my drunk ass out of the diner. How lovely,” Killian muttered. 

“I’m just happy that my end of things seems slightly less humiliating than yours.”

“Thanks for your concern, Swan. I appreciate it as always.” 

Emma grinned at that and nudged his foot with hers under the table. “It will be over soon enough,” she promised. “…I hope.”

“Hook! Hook!” Leroy ran into the diner. Killian leveled him with a glare for the commotion then looked to Emma for how to react.

“Aye? How can I help you, mate?” he replied hesitantly when Emma decided to be difficult about the matter. Was she helping? No. Not at all. She was hiding a laugh and looking over Leroy’s shoulder for her fries. 

Leroy started rambling about something. Killian managed to catch the words: fire, bean crops, unconscious Sleepy. “Isn’t Sleepy almost always unconscious?” he whispered to Emma, only to receive a sharp kick in the shin from Emma and a glare from Leroy, who had definitely overheard. Killian cleared his throat. “I mean, is Sleepy hurt?” 

“He’s been knocked out! Of course, he’s hurt!” Leroy exclaimed. 

“I think Killian meant…” and hearing Emma refer to him as Killian in public was definitely strange but nice, “is is Sleepy seriously hurt, or will he recover well?”

Leroy leveled Emma with a glare. “Wasn’t talking to you, Bounty Hunter,” he muttered. 

“Just trying to help. Oh, look! My fries!” Emma exclaimed. Whatever false memories Leroy had of her didn’t seem to be too positive, so better to focus on her food.

Ruby placed their food down. “Leroy, is any one dead, dying, or probably going to die in the next half hour?” she asked him. 

“No,” he replied “but…” 

“Then why don’t we give these two a chance to eat. They need a minute to breathe after the morning they’ve had,” Ruby was already ushering him away. Behind Leroy’s back she signaled for them both to stop the drinking and start eating. “I’m sure they’ll be more than happy to handle the situation shortly. In the meantime, David’s just sitting at the station waiting for something to do. Why don’t you go tell him all about the situation?” 

“That’s…new,” Emma commented. Even though she had been the one to order the fries, she grabbed a fork to taste some of the pie. Killian smiled at the move and returned the favor by stealing some of her fries. 

“Most likely your parents had something to do with that as well.”

“We get to eat with no disturbances,” Emma said while thinking over the idea. “We should order more. We could drink more.”

“I’m sure your father would love that,” Killian remarked with a tone indicating that he knew David would actually hate the idea. However, he was already reaching for the flask. 

“Well, until this spell’s been fixed, he’s technically your dad.”

Killian shivered at the thought. “Let’s hope the queen can figure something out soon.”

Emma noticed out of the corner of her eye that nearly the whole diner was watching them by that point even though they had both kept their voices low enough that no one should have been able to hear their conversation. 

“They all must have heard,” she mumbled and dipped two fries into the whipped cream that was slowly melting on top of the hot piece of pie. 

Killian suddenly felt like maybe for once in his life he had actually drank too much rum.“So we need to not tell them that they’re the ones under a spell because that would cause mass panic, and we need to play along with their idea that we’re under the spell in order to explain why we don’t understand them and to keep them from figuring out that they’re the ones under the spell. Is that correct?”

“That’s the idea,” Emma pointedly glanced over to the counter causing everyone to swiftly change their gazes to random locations. They could not have been more obvious. 

“I’m afraid I’ve lost my appetite, love.” 

“Should we move this to the station?” 

Ruby, one of the many who had been watching them, seemed to know what they were doing. She hurried over with some take out boxes, a bag of already prepared food, and a tray of coffees. “From what Leroy said, you’re going to be busy this afternoon.” She quickly packed up the remaining fries and pie and placed them in the bag. “You need more to eat than pie and rum,” she softly scolded. “I packed a few of your favorites. Eat some more at the station.” 

They didn’t even make it that long. Once everyone’s eyes were off of them, both Killian and Emma were rummaging through the bags in search of grilled cheese which they ate while walking. It also helped them to avoid any conversations with anyone they passed on the street. At the station, David was still discussing things with Leroy, who once again greeted them with a glare. 

“Bout time you two hurried over. We got another situation here, and you’re more concerned with filling your bellies.” 

“Leroy, there was nothing they could have done anyway without the information. It’s better they eat or else they wouldn’t be able to chase down whoever is responsible for this mess,” David was acting as his usual Charming self. It was almost as if the spell that morning had never happened. “Now that we have the guard duty arranged, why don’t you fill in the other dwarves, and I can catch Killian and Miss Swan up on the details.” Well, he had been acting normally up until the “Killian and Miss Swan” part. 

Leroy left, muttering things under his breath as he did, and Emma offered David one of the bags of food. Luckily, it seemed that much like David and Killian had been tentative friends prior to the spell, David believed he and Emma were friends of a sort as well. He accepted the bag with a nod of thanks. 

“So, mate, what seems to be the trouble?” 

It was impossible to miss how David winced at the usually appreciated term, and Emma realized it was because he expected Killian to call him some version of “dad” like Emma had started doing recently. 

“I see that spell hasn’t worn off yet,” he muttered disappointedly. 

“Oh yeah, Regina said it might take awhile,” Emma supplied. 

“That’s all?” he asked incredulously. “She’s not looking into it more?” 

“Oh, she is!” Emma quickly assured. “She promised to contact us as soon as she knew anything, but in the meantime, she said we should just do what we would normally do.” After a moment, she paused. “So…what is it we normally do?” What she really meant was “What is it that you think we normally do?”

“What do you mean? Are you losing more of your memories?” David looked panicked. 

“No, no, but we just have altered memories. We both remember that I was the sheriff. Is that the reality?” 

“Oh, yes, that’s true. Killian was offered the job after everything with Graham, but he chose to be the deputy instead.”

“I did?” Killian asked, looking a little surprised. 

“You liked the job flexibility, and you’re still not comfortable with the idea that you’re one of the good guys, no matter what your mother and I tell you. Besides, you like spending time on your ship or helping Belle out in the library more than taking care of the little issues around town.” 

“What do I do?” Emma asked.

“You help us here or help Belle do research in the library since you have some of the better computer skills.”

At least not too much had changed, and they could stay busy until they either found a solution or the spell wore off itself.


End file.
